


The Prodigal Lover

by thealphagate_archivist



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Angst, Drama, Episode Fix-it: s05e21 Meridian, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-04-01
Updated: 2006-04-01
Packaged: 2019-02-02 04:22:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12719559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thealphagate_archivist/pseuds/thealphagate_archivist
Summary: Meridian fix-it, that's all you need to know :)





	The Prodigal Lover

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the archivists: this story was originally archived at [The Alpha Gate](https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Alpha_Gate), a Stargate SG-1 archive, which began migration to the AO3 in 2017 when its hosting software, eFiction, was no longer receiving support. To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in November 2017. We e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are this creator and it hasn't transferred to your AO3 account, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Alpha Gate collection profile](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/thealphagate).

Jack settled back in his seat and looked up towards the sky without really looking at it. He was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to enjoy the beauty of the first clear night in a long while. One year ago it'd happened. One year that very day that Daniel had left him alone... He hadn't expected it to hurt quite so much after so long, but it did. Like the proverbial knife through his heart, stabbing a little bit deeper every day. They'd all tried to help him out, help guide him back to the existance that he once new, but it just wasn't the same without Daniel there. He missed his best friend, his lover, keenly and with a desperation that was near pathological.

It hadn't been like this when Sarah'd walked out on him, and when Charlie'd died it'd been different. In that case he'd been losing a child, in this case he'd lost an equal, a partner. Someone he'd come to rely on in more ways than one. Someone who could make him feel incredibly stupid with a few words. Someone who could use some slightly different words to make him feel wanted. He'd grown accustomed to Jonas, even accepted him... As much as he could accept someone whom he thought would've served the universe better by drowning at birth. There were times when he'd give his right arm to wipe the vapid grin off the man's face, but he'd come in handy on occasion in the last year. He had to hand it to Jonas, he made brilliant cannon-fodder in both a literal and metaphorical sense.

"He could never be as good as you Danny," he murmured to the air, dropping his eyes from the stars to look down at the bottle of beer that he was still cradling in his hands an hour after taking it out of the fridge. He'd mostly given up alcohol now, even its stupefying effects unable to lessen the ache in his chest.

Sighing deeply, Jack closed his eyes for a long moment and breathed in the relatively clean night air. He froze when he caught a whiff of something familiar, probably coming from one of his neighbours' homes. He no longer kept coffee in his house anymore, couldn't even stand to smell it. If there was one thing that reminded him of Daniel, it was that... His lover'd never been without a mug of brew, his kisses had always tasted of java no matter how long it'd been since he'd last had some of the stuff. More than once he'd had to walk out of the commissary while blinking back tears because he'd pictured Daniel standing by the coffee-maker.

It was after moments like that that he'd had to endure the sympathetic looks from those around him, those pats on the shoulder from the men and touches on the hand from the women. Some days he couldn't stand to see those looks, but other times they reminded him that he still had friends around. Friends that'd known and understood his relationship with the young archaeologist. Who'd kept their secret and thus kept them their jobs as well as the lives they knew. He owed Sam, Janet, Teal'c and George a lot, and it was only because of them that he hadn't just withdrawn completely. It was because of them that he went into the base, but it was because of them he went home. Being surrounded by people was nice enough, but he didn't need to be distracted constantly - he needed his moments alone to think about what he no longer had. Besides, he'd never been one for tears in public.

"I miss you Danny," he whispered, lifting his gaze up to the sky again.

"I miss you too Jack," a small voice replied in the back of his head, and he laughed without humour.

'Get a grip O'Neill, you're not allowed to go insane with grief remember?' he told himself, shaking his head and pushing himself to his feet.

"Nice try Jack, but you're not going insane," the voice said, its tone tinged with humour. "You aren't getting off that easy."

"Easy?" he muttered to himself as he headed back into his house. "I don't see how-" Stopping in his tracks, Jack suddenly spun on the spot to look back out over the place where he'd been sitting on the back deck. Not seeing anything, he frowned and shook his head before turning back to... just about keel over when he saw Daniel standing there. As it was, his beer slipped from his nerveless fingers to crack on the wood at his feet and roll away slowly. "Danny?"

"Hi Jack... Please don't fall over or anything okay? I'm not sure I could, uh..." the apparition said, stepping forward. "Why don't you come inside?"

"Yeah," he agreed numbly, wondering if he was actually feeling those fingers close around his or if this was all some kind of elaborate dream. Perhaps he was sitting unconscious... hell, maybe even dead, in the chair still and this was just his brain having one final electrical fling. "What're you doing here Daniel?" he asked in a rasping croak as the vision of Daniel lead him through to the kitchen..

"Like I said, I missed you..." 'Daniel' replied over his shoulder. "I couldn't just forget you or what we had... Here, sit down, I'll get you a coffee."

Jack let those phantom hands push him into one of the kitchen chairs, then watched in silence as their owner stepped over to the pantry to pull the doors open and begin the search for coffee. "Uh, I don't have any," he murmured after a moment. "There's cocoa."

"No coffee?" 'Daniel' asked incredulously, then frowned. "Um, okay... I guess I'll just have to do this the hard way."

"Hard way?" Jack repeated dumbly, his eyes following the vision of his lover to the seat opposite his.

"Nothing to fidget with." Out came that sheepish smile that he knew so well, the one that'd always dragged a returning grin out of him... Until now that was - this time it caused tears to prick at his eyes and a lump to lodge itself in his throat. "Jack, what's wrong?"

"You're not really here..." the he whispered huskily. "I'm asleep outside still. This is all in my head."

The illusion of Daniel slipped out of the chair it'd fallen into and stepped around to his side, hands gently turning him in his sleep so that he was sideways on the chair before kneeling down in front of him. "No Jack, you're not asleep. I'm really here," 'Daniel' said fervently, grasping his hands in both of his own and chafing them gently to bring some warmth back into the cold fingers.

"But you're a cloud or... something. I saw you like that," Jake replied hopelessly, his shoulders slumping and his head drooping so that his chin contacted with his chest. "You're dead."

"Jack, look at me." He slowly lifted his head so that his eyes met a pair of earnest blue ones, promptly losing himself in them so that he only vaguely felt fingers brush over his cheeks. "I'm not dead. I'm not a cloud... I couldn't go on without you Jack. I love you too much to leave you like this and... I just love you too much." A slight smile flicked over Daniel's lips. "Besides, can a cloud do this?" he whispered, leaning up so that his breat fanned over Jack's lips before covering them with his own.

Surrendering himself to the fantasy, Jack's hands made their way of their own accord to thread his fingers into long ash-blonde hair. He'd always preferred Daniel with longer hair, thinking the shorter cut had made his lover look gaunt. But that was the last thing on his mind as he returned the kiss initiated by the other man, the reality of the situation dawning on him a moment after they'd drawn apart. The moment that happened, he gave up on the military pretense to drag Daniel into a rib-crushing embrace, tears flowing freely down his face. "You're really back," he gasped between softly choking sobs.

"I'm back," Daniel affirmed, wrapping his arm around the colonel to reciprocate the embrace. "Not that I really left anyway. I only managed about a month before I had to come back and keep an eye on you. I'm sorry Jack, I would've descended earlier... But I never really guessed how you felt."

"'Sokay," he rasped, pulling back and looking at his lover in wonder. "I'll forgive you this time, if you promise that you're back for good."

The archaeologist smiled and kissed him again quickly. "I promise."


End file.
